Bubba Watson burst into the golf spotlight by winning the 2012 Masters with an incredible hook shot out of trouble. From there, he became just as notable for becoming an unlikable person and because of this he was suffering from mental health issues. How he handled them and has found himself in a better place is the main focus of his memoir written with Don Yaeger.

Watson became known as “Bubba from Bagdad” as he grew up in this small town in the Florida panhandle. He was supported by his parents to attempt to fulfill his dreams of making it in professional golf, although he did have some hiccups along the way. Unlike many other memoirs and biographies, I found this part of his story just as interesting as his victories in the Masters (he also won in 2014) or his adult personal life.
Watson’s account of his unusual path to success in golf at the University of Georgia is a story with many twists that in the end will work out well for him. Not only did he have success on the course despite not being a part of the team during his senior year, he also met his wife Angie. She was also an athlete – a member of the Georgia women’s basketball team who had aspirations of a WNBA career that didn’t happen mainly due to injury.

Once Watson embarked on a professional golf career, his story and the book progresses well, despite some repetition and also some stories that feel like they were not complete. One example of this is his relationship with his caddy Teddy Scott. Watson gives him a lot of credit for everything – improving his golf game, giving him a stern talk when his behavior was putting off many of his fellow pro golfers and reminding him of his priorities for both his family (he and Angie adopted two children) and his faith. But after setting Bubba straight, it is unknow what has become of Teddy.

His faith, and that of his wife, is an important part of this book and Watson’s story – it is never far from his thoughts. It certainly helped him change the behavior that made him the person who would be the least likely to receive assistance from fellow golfers if he ran into trouble off the course. That isn’t the exact wording of what this informal poll revealed, but it is a illustration of how Watson acted on and off the course – and his explanations of how and why he was that way was adequate, but did not feel completely genuine.

Because of this vagueness, I felt this memoir lacked true reflection but Watson does come across as sincere and truly wanting to be a better person. For that, I given him credit for not only making his life better, but also for still playing well enough on the PGA tour to be a top-ranked player. He does talk about his golf, but not as much as his personal life. That is something that a reader should consider before deciding to pick up this book – it worked out fine, but it may not satisfy readers who want to read more about the game instead of the person.

I wish to thank Thomas Nelson Publishing for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of golf as well as Bubba Watson this is a great book to read. It give insight in to what makes him so successful. I highly recommend this book.

I was a Bubba fan before. I am a Bubba fan. I will continue to be a Bubba fan, especially knowing that what he pursues outside of golf is not to make a buck but to make a difference.

I appreciated his vulnerability in relating his struggles. I liked the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the rarefied air of a touring PGA pro and two-time Masters champion.

That said, the book read like a straightforward biography. I expected it to dig a little deeper, especially considering the title and subtitle.

But if I were that famous, how deeply would I want strangers to know me?

Recommended for golf fans.

A very personal account by the two time Masters Champion, Bubba from Baghdad. The book deals with the conflict the author experienced being a small town boy with limited education who rose to the level of an elite golfer and international sports celebrity.
Watson is very candid about his personal struggles. He was called down by his caddie for childish behavior on the golf course. Later he was voted by the PGA players as the fellow golfer they would be least likely to aid if they saw him in a parking lot brawl. Watson was benched by his college golf coach and later passed over by Davis Love III when selecting captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup team. In both cases he overcame embarrassment and jealousy to be a great teammate.
The book is co- written by a professional writer, but the ARC that I read is in need of editing. There are several grammatical errors and a lot of repetition. However, that is part of the charm of the book. It feels like sitting down with an old friend and talking about life. It is more stream of consciousness than a detailed and chronological autobiography.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Bubba Watson, golfer, husband, father. As much as he didn't want this to be a book about golf, it mostly is. I enjoyed the book and enjoyed learning about how he came to play golf and how he got to be a two time Masters Champion. As a golf fan I enjoyed hearing his play by play of those matches and I enjoyed understanding how he overcame the anxiety in his life. I also loved his outspoken love of Jesus and how God is first in his life!

However, the book needed a good going over. There is a few different times where he tells part of a story and then in another chapter says the exact same thing again. It didn't seem like it added to the story to do that and I kept having to go back to see if it was a passage I had read before.

All in all, it is a good memoir and Bubba fans will love it. 3.5⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson Publishing and Bubba Watson for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

"Up & Down" gives us the chance to talk about the curious case (and accompanying autobiography) of golfer Bubba Watson.

Here's someone who is almost tailor-made for a good book about his life. Watson came out of Bagdad, Florida (near Pensacola), and was something of a junior sensation. He won local tournaments even though he never had a lesson, and figured out a way to pick up a college scholarship although he admits he wasn't exactly a great student. Bubba eventually landed at the University of Georgia, where he was really good at times but still was demoted to sixth-man status - which is kind of like being the sixth man on a basketball team.

Still, he turned professional and had a little success. Even so, that didn't prepare anyone for his win in the 2012 Masters. What's more, he proved the victory was no fluke by capturing the 2014 Masters. They were popular wins in some ways. That's partly because Watson wore his emotions on his sleeve, and partly because he was the classic bomber who clobbered the ball whenever it was necessary - and it usually was.

On the other hand, Watson seemed always to be carrying some baggage around. A 2015 ESPN survey of PGA pros voted Bubba as the person least likely to be rescued by their peers if they saw a fellow pro get in a fight. He's gotten into some public squabbles with those around him in golf. And his career is a bit of a puzzle, in that he seemed capable of doing more on the pro tour than he actually did. At this writing, Watson is 43 - and probably is past his prime.

In other words, Bubba seems like someone who was particularly ill-equipped to handle the spotlight that comes with being a star in American sports. Finding out what happened to him probably is the reason for giving "Up & Down" a read.

Indeed, autobiographies in which the central character is on the unpleasant side can be tough to read, and it's easy to see that Bubba's actions could make him unpopular. For example, he had a very public argument with his caddie on the course during a tournament that everyone seemed to notice. Watson writes about something of an intervention from Ben Crane, a fellow pro who essentially told him to change his behavior. But Bubba didn't quite turn things around at that point.

Watson starts the book with a candid admission - one that has received most of the headlines from reviews and news stories - about how he hit bottom in 2017. His weight was down to about 162 (down 30 pounds from normal), and his head was such a mess that he thought about giving up golf. We're hearing more these days about athletes who have coping with the pressures of the job, and it's good that Bubba has come out as a member of that club. Watson opened up to people close to him, starting with his wife, and got his head back in order. That's worth more than a golf clap. He's also done a ton of charity work, becoming something of the PGA's face when it comes to adopted (he and his wife adopted two children).

The biggest puzzle of the book, though, comes at the end. There isn't a great deal written about what happened to him. That starts on a personal level. It would have been nice to know if he did manage to change his ways a bit, and some examples of what he did.

Then there's the golf side of that story. On the plus side, he made the Ryder Cup team in 2018. After devoting a chapter to service as a vice-captain when he was passed over for the 2016 American team, you'd think that might have been worth noting. On the minus side, Watson hasn't been particularly effective on the tour over the past few years. He hasn't won any events since 2018, and he's only been in one top 10 in a major championship - with 10 missed cuts - starting in 2015. I don't know if he's had physical problems in that time, but it would be interesting to know what if anything has gone wrong. Sometimes this book reads as if it was written around 2018.

There's also very little written about most of the other players on the tour. OK, it's his story, but Watson seemed quite self-absorbed in talking about his tournament years. There is a bit on how he became to be a frequent practice partner of Tiger Woods early in his career., and not much else. A little insight into others might have been nice. The book might have used one more edit, to take out a couple of redundant stories.

Watson has said his priorities in life are God, family, friends and golf - in that order, and I guess the book is something of a reflection of that. I'm not qualified to judge anything about his faith, but he does appear to be a devoted family man and a giving person toward others. Even so, the person revealed in "Up & Down" remains something of an enigma at the end of this very quick read.

Thanks to my husband I have become more acquainted with professional golf and I'm pretty familiar with some of the more popular golfers. I enjoy watching the sport, so when I saw Bubba Watson's new book I was intrigued. Last spring, we had rewatched the 2012 Masters with his infamous wedge from the woods. That being said I am by far not an expert in the field and I enjoyed how you didn't have to be in order to enjoy this book.

I enjoyed being able to get to know Bubba better, learn more about his faith based life, how he suffers from anxiety and stress, to see how he has handled life's challenges and accepted where he messed up and was wrong. It's an inspirational book to help show that everyone makes mistakes, but it's what you do after those mistakes that matters. I will definitely be recommending this book to golf enthusiasts.

***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!